





!'....'■';■ 
•' : ■•,'.'■ '■•■■ 




Glass 
Book 



ess,") SENATE. ) Mis. 

■ / X No. 

1^74* ., MET- I 

ADDRESSES 



Mis. Dor. 
104. 



ACCEPTANCE BV CONGRESS 



STATUE OF JAMES A. GARFIELD, 



I'KISENTED BY 



THE STATE OF OHIO. 



WASHINGTON : 

lOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1S86. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



In the Senate, 

January 5, 1886. 

Mr. Sherman (Mr. Hale in the chair). 
I desire, before submitting a resolution, to 
have read a communication from the gov- 
ernor of the State of Ohio. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Hale in 
the chair). The communication will be 
read. 

The Chief Clerk read as follows : 

State of Ohio, Executive Department, 
Office of Governor, 

Columbus, December 10, fSSj. 
Sir : I have the honor to inform you that, in acceptance of the invi- 
tation contained in section 1814 of the Revised Statutes of the United 
States, the State of Ohio, in pursuance of an act of its General Assembly, 
has caused to be made by the sculptor, Carl H. Niehaus, and placed in 
the old Hall of the House of Representatives, in the Capitol of the 
United States, in the custody of the Architect of the Capitol, a marble 
statue of that illustrious and lamented citizen of Ohio, James A. Gar- 
field, late President of the United States. 

3 



I his work is now presented to the Congress of the United States as 
one of the statues contributed by the State of Ohio in pursuance of this 
invitation. It is hoped that it may be found worthy of acceptance and 
approval as a fit contribution from this State to the United States, in 
whose service President Garfield passed so much of his life, and wdiose 
chief executive officer he was at the lime of his death. 
Very respectfully, 

GEO. HOADLY, 

Governor of Ohio. 
Hon. John Sherman, 

President of the Senate of the United States, 

Washington, D. C. 

Mr. Sherman. In connection with that 
communication I submit concurrent reso- 
lutions. 

The concurrent resolutions were read, as 
follows : 

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representat , That 

the thanks of Congress be presented to the governor, and through him to 
the people, of Ohio, for the statue of Jamks A. Garfield, whose name 
is so honorably identified with the history of that State and of the United 
States. 

Resolved, That this work of art is accepted in the name of the nation, 
and assigned a place in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, 
already set aside by act of Congress for statues of eminent citizens; and 
that a copy of this resolution, signed by the President of the Sen.:: 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, be transmitted to the gov- 
ernor of the State of Ohio. 

The Senate by unanimous consent, pro- 
ceeded to consider the resolutions. 



5 

Mr. Sherman. Mr. President, in select- 
ing- from among; the illustrious dead of the 
State of Ohio the two most worthy to be 
represented by marble statues in the old 
hall of the House of Representatives, it 
seemed to the General Assembly of that 
State appropriate, first of all, to choose the 
statesman, soldier, and President whose 
brilliant life and tragic death have made 
his name "familiar as a household word," 
not only in every part of our country, but 
throughout the civilized world. His recent 
presence among us, his conspicuous serv- 
ices in the House of Representatives, the 
impressive ceremonies in this Capitol which 
within five brief years attended his inaugu- 
ration as President of the United States, 
his long and patient suffering under a 
mortal wound by an assassin, the eloquent 
words of his nearest friend, uttered in the 
presence of nearly every member of this 
body and within the Hall where both had 



gained their highest fame, make the duty 
assigned me seem superfluous. Still it 
may not be amiss to accompany the ac- 
ceptance of the statue of James A. Gar- 
field with a brief statement of the grounds 
for the affection and respect with which his 
memory is held by the people of Ohio. 

He was, in every sense, a self-made man, 
blest, it is true, in springing from a line of 
hardy and industrious farmers of Puritan 
stock, who depended only upon themselves 
and their God. Vet the early life of young 
Garfield was a constant struggle with 
poverty. By the death of his father when 
an infant he, the youngest of four children, 
was left under the care of his mother in 
possession of a farm of thirty acres, mostly 
covered by primeval forest, in a then new 
and sparse settlement of Northern Ohio. 
He had to suffer the discipline of hard daily 
labor and enforced economy. In this re- 
spect he was not different from the great 



7 

majority of his neighbors, who, like him- 
self, found the healthy and vigorous train- 
ing by labor in early life the best prepara- 
tion for the mental as well as the physical 
tasks of later life. Even as a lad he never 
forgot that it was his duty to learn as well 
as to labor. There was in those days no 
easy road to learning, but, availing himself 
of the intelligent tuition of his mother and 
occasional schools in his neighborhood, 
and always imbued with the love of study, 
he made rapid progress, and early in life 
became a teacher as well as a student. 
He was not satisfied with this, but, saving 
his scanty pay for labor in the harvest-field 
and in many varied manual employments, 
he attended the seminary at Chester and 
the college at Hiram, and finally at Will- 
iams, Mass., where, in a broader field and 
greater competition, he gained the honors 
of his class. His education did not end 
here, for he returned to the Hiram Insti- 



8 

tute as professor of languages and soon 
became its president. The result was that 
before he entered upon his public life he 
was a thoroughly educated man, not merely 
in the lessons of the school and the col- 
lege, not merely in literature and science, 
but also, by extensive reading and study, 
in all the historical and political questions 
of the day, in the development of which 
he was to take so active a part. All this 
varied learning was ground into him and 
fitted for use by his experience as a laborer, 
a teacher, a preacher, a professor, and presi- 
dent of a college. 

When he entered public life in 1859, at 
the age of" twenty-eight, as a member of 
the senate of Ohio, he was well equipped 
for all the great duties that were to fall 
upon him; but, not content with this, while 
serving as Senator he studied law and was 
admitted to the bar. 

\i this period <>f h^. life came the great 



tragedy of the civil war. His heart and 
soul and every fiber of his body was en- 
listed in the Union cause. His speeches 
at that time were models of the persuasive 
eloquence that distinguished him in his 
later years. He was chiefly instrumental 
in raising and preparing for service a regi- 
ment of Ohio infantry, of which he became 
colonel. 

In the two years he remained in the 
military service he distinguished himself 
and was promoted for gallant services in 
battle to the rank of brigadier and then 
major general. I do not regard his serv- 
ice in the Army as anything more than an 
honorable episode of his active life, for 
others gained greater distinction and ren- 
dered more important services, but he did 
demonstrate his ability to lead and com- 
mand men, to inspire the confidence of his 
superior officers, and to show on several 
important battle-fields his personal courage. 



IO 

His military services were chiefly im- 
portant in giving him information as to 
the wants and organization of the Army 
that became useful to him and to the 
Union cause when applied in Congress in 
framing laws for the increase and govern- 
ment of the Army. 

His enduring fame will chiefly rest upon 
what he did during the period of eighteen 
years as a member of the House of Rep- 
resentatives. While he was in the field, 
and without an effort or wish on his part, 
he was elected as a Representative in Con- 
gress from a district in Northeastern Ohio 
which had been represented for nearly half 
a century by Elisha Whittlesey and Joshua 
Giddiness. It was as their successor that, 
during nine consecutive Congresses, from 
1863 to 1 88 1, he made that record which 
is the great glory of his life. 

What an infinite variety of subjects, 
what magnitude of detail and results, what 



1 1 

immense sums and difficult problems were 
acted upon by him, no one can tell who 
has not examined his share of the record 
of the proceedings of Congress. These 
events are too fresh in the minds of those 
who hear me, many of whom have also 
been active in these busy scenes, to make 
it necessary for me to measure and gauge 
the value of his services, compared to that 
of any one of his colleagues ; but I do not 
now recall any from among his distin- 
guished compeers who will not frankly 
say that in variety of duty, in labor and 
care and earnest effort in his speeches and 
in action, no one of all can be said to have 
been his superior. 

Many of his speeches may be regarded 
as models of effective eloquence. They 
presented frankly the arguments on the 
topic under debate, but always were en- 
riched by apt metaphor, by illustrations 
drawn from other topics, by poetical or 



12 

classical quotations. Even his impromptu 
speeches display the rich storehouse of 
learning from which he drew his inspira- 
tion. Courteous in manner, and rarely, 
if ever, trenching on the rules of order, he 
often expressed in a single sharp sentence 
or phrase the whole argument that silenced 
his opponent. He was always a ready 
speaker; ready promptly to reply to an 
argument of an adversary without waiting 
to cull his phrases or arrange his order of 
battle; read}-, whatever was the subject- 
matter of debate, whether finance, war, 
reconstruction, or a graceful tribute to a 
friend; ready, even at the spur of the mo- 
ment, to resist and check the hasty judg- 
ment of his friends or his constituents, or 
all combined. 

In principle he was in every sense a 
patriot. No narrow limit confined his al- 
legiance, but the whole country was the 
object of his love. He did not favor an\ 



13 

section, but freely extended the bounties 
of Government to every part. He was a 
lover of liberty, of freedom in its broadest 
sense, not only of the person, but of 
thought and of speech. Though a mem- 
ber of the Disciple Church, he was cath- 
olic in his charity for all Christian denomi- 
nations. He was a strict guardian of the 
public faith, pledged either to a citizen, a 
soldier, or a creditor. When that faith 
seemed to be impaired by the long sus- 
pension of specie payments, he was as ear- 
nest as any in demanding the fulfillment 
of a national duty, and rejoiced as much 
as any in resumption. A striking exam- 
ple himself of the benefits of education, he 
favored every measure to extend and en- 
large the scope of both State and national 
aid to education. He was a Republican, 
not in the narrow sense of personal ad- 
vantage, but because he believed that 
party could best advance the honor and 



14 

prosperity of our whole country, and of 
every part of it. 

During his last term in Congress he was 
elected by the General Assembly of Ohio 
as a member of this body. No one can 
doubt that had he entered upon this serv- 
ice he would have greatly added to his 
reputation as an orator and a statesman, 
already established by eighteen years' ex- 
perience in the House. This was his 
cherished hope and ambition, frankly ex- 
pressed to his personal friends, justified 
by his physical and mental condition and 
training, in the prime of manhood, his 
early and later struggles behind him as 
obstacles safely overcome, with hope and 
health and strength all pointing in the 
future to a long life of honor and useful- 
ness. 

Within a few months after the election 
of General Garfikld as Senator, and be- 
fore the commencement of his term, the 



15 

Republican national convention of 1880 
met to select a candidate for President 
of the United States. Divided and dis- 
tracted in its choice, it turned to him as its 
standard-bearer, and he was elected Presi- 
dent by the unquestioned majority of the 
electoral college and of the people. He 
entered upon the discharge of the great 
duties of this office. He met and over- 
came the first waves of contention and 
disappointment which are inevitable at the 
beginning of any administration, and hope- 
ful and confident, at the moment when his 
life was most full of promise, when he was 
starting to visit his alma mater and to en- 
courage by his example and great success 
the youth of that college, he was mortally 
wounded. Here ended his hopes and his 
life, for, though he lingered months and 
days, it was with torture infinite. 

The people of Ohio, among whom he 
was born and bred, placed his image in 



i6 

enduring marble in the silent senate of the 
dead, among the worthies of every period 
of American history, not claiming for him 
to have been the greatest of all, but only 
as one of their fellow-citizens, whom, when 
living, they greatly loved and trusted, 
whose life was spent in the service of his 
whole country at the period of its greatest 
peril, and who, in the highest places of 
trust and power, did his full duty as a sol- 
dier, a patriot, and a statesman. 

I move the adoption of the resolutions. 

The Presiding Officer. The ques- 
tion is on agreeing to the concurrent reso- 
lutions submitted by the Senator from 
Ohio. 

The resolutions were agreed to netn. 
con. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 



In House of Representatives, 

yanuary ig, 1886. 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. Mr. Speaker, I 
ask unanimous consent to call up the 
Senate concurrent resolutions relating to 
the statue of the late President James A. 
Garfield, for immediate consideration. 

The Speaker. The resolutions referred 

to by the gentleman from Ohio were laid 

before the House on the 6th of the present 

month by the Chair, and by unanimous 

consent were laid on the table for the 

present, with the understanding that they 

would be called up at a future day for 

consideration. If there be no objection, 

they will now be taken up. 

There was no objection. 

S. Mis. 104- — 2 17 



Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. Mr. Speaker, I 
ask that the resolutions be read, as also 
the letter from the governor of the State 
of Ohio. 

The Speaker. The resolutions will be 
read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

In the Senate of the United Si vtes, 

January 5, iSSb. 

Resolved by the Senate {the House of Representatives concurring), That 
tit. thanks of Congress be presented to the governor, and through him to 
the people, of Ohio, for the statue of James A. GARFIELD, whose name 
is so honorably identified with the history of that State and of the United 
States. 

Resolved, That this work of art is accepted in the name of the nation, 
and assigned a place in the old Hall of the House of Representatives, 
already set aside by act of Congress for statues of eminent citizens; and 
that a copy of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, be transmitted to the gov- 
ernor of the State of Ohio. 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. I ask that the 
letter of the governor be also read. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

state of Ohio, Executive Department, 
Offiq oi Goin KNOR, 

Columbus, December 10, /SSj. 
Sir: I have the honor to inform you th.it, in acceptance of the invi- 
tation i 1814 ol the Revised Statutes of the United 



19 

States, the State of Ohio, in pursuance of an act of its General Assembly, 
has caused to be made by the sculptor, Carl H. Niehaus, and placed in 
the old Hall of the House of Representatives, in the Capitol of the 
United States, in the custody of the Architect of the Capitol, a marble 
statue of that illustrious and lamented citizen of Ohio, James A. Gar- 
field, late President of the United States. 

This work is now presented to the Congress of the United States as 
one of the statues contributed by the State of Ohio in pursuance of this 
invitation. It is hoped that it may be found worthy of acceptance and 
approval as a fit contribution from this State to the United States, in 
whose service President GARFIELD passed so much of his life, and whose 
chief executive officer he was at the time of his death. 
Very respectfully, 

GEO. HOADI.Y, 

Governor of Ohio. 

Hon. John G. Carlisle, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. Mr. Speaker, as 
others will speak upon this resolution, my 
words will be few. 

James A. Garfield was born of a 
sturdy, self-reliant parentage. With "a 
sound mind in a sound body," he com- 
menced life under favorable auspices; so 
poor as to be mainly self-dependent, but 
untouched by distressing poverty — a con- 
dition favorable to development and suc- 
cess under the influence of free institu- 



20 

tions; one not waited upon by indolence 
or pleasure, but where hope abides. From 
the time he first attracted attention Gar- 
field's course was onward and upward, 
his motto and his life " Excelsior." Labor 
and genius placed him in and fitted him 
for every position he ever occupied. In- 
deed, work was his ladder, and by it he 
reached the highest eminence. As stu- 
dent, soldier, statesman, it was the sign by 
which he conquered, and by it he achieved 
all his successes, various and great as they 
were. He was never a laggard, but, ever 
striving to learn, he was always learning. 
His eyes were always open, and he saw 
the wayside flower as well as the distant 
mountain. 

In his public life he was devoted to 
principle, resolute in the discharge of duty, 
diligent, informed, able, and eloquent to 
the point where he had few equals. Con- 
ciliating to opponents, refined in speech, 



21 

courteous in manner, with a bounteous 
fund of lovjng kindness, he had the re- 
spect of friend and foe. 

He loved his State as a son his mother, 
and the country with undying devotion. 

This occasion does not permit me to 
dwell upon the purity or greatness of his 
character, or to speak in detail of his serv- 
ices, known of all men; but those who 
knew him well, and their name is legion 
(for none was so easily known, few so dif- 
ficult to forget), turn to his private life with 
joy and pride. There he was seen at his 
best. The domestic side of that life I do 
not here touch. It was simply so perfect 
that concerning it language fails to convey 
ideas. 

That life is the enduring pride of his 
people; in it he raised up such friends as 
few can boast; they came in troops and 
battalions, and never in his life or since 
have they broken their allegiance. Even 



22 

now they mourn him with a grief that 
finds no comfort. 

The people of Ohio appreciated him 
from the first, and they stood about him 
like a wall of defense; and now, prompted 
by gratitude, admiration, and love, they 
have, through their Legislature and au- 
thorities, caused to be made a marble 
statue, representing as well as marble may 
the well-loved son of that State, the citi- 
zen, soldier, statesman, President Gar- 
field; have placed it in the Flail of the 
old House of Representatives, and ask 
Congress in behalf of the American people 
to accept it as theirs, and to allow it to 
remain till it also turns to dust. 

The statue now stands so near the way 
through which Mr. Garfield, as member 
of this House for almost eighteen years, 
daily passed to reach this Hall that one 
standing there may almost touch it with 
hi> hand as it seems to graze tow aril the 



23 

Senate, which he had a commission to 
enter, but did not, because the nation said 
to him, "Go up higher." 

He stands among the fathers of the Re- 
public, by the side of their great succes- 
sors, and in the presence of some of his 
contemporary patriots. The martyr Pres- 
ident is not far away. 

In this exalted company President Gar- 
field is not out of place. He came last 
into it, but he there greets only his peers. 
His compatriots who are "standing in that 
silent senate of the dead," if in life, would 
recognize the fitness of the association — 
none more readily than his old friend, the 
matchless orator of Gettysburg, the libera- 
tor President, the immortal Lincoln. 

Accept, then, Ohio's gift, "the image in 
enduring marble" of one she loved so 
well, tendered as it is with her patriotic 
aspirations . for the prosperity, the happi- 
ness, and the continuance of the great 



24 

American Union, "one and inseparable, 
now and forever." 

I now yield so much time as he may- 
desire to my colleague, Mr. McKinley. 

Mr. McKinley. Mr. Speaker, comply- 
ing with an act of Congress passed July, 
1864, inviting each of the States of the 
Union to present to National Statuary 
Hall the statues of two of its deceased 
citizx-ns "illustrious for their heroic re- 
nown, or distinguished by civic or military 
services" worthy of national commemora- 
tion, Ohio brings her first contribution in 
the marble statue of James Abram Gar- 
field. There were other citizens of Ohio 
earlier associated with the history and 
progress of the State and illustrious in the 
nation's annals who might have been fitly 
chosen for this exalted honor. Governors, 
United States Senators, members of the 
supreme judicial) of the nation, closely 



25 

identified with the growth and greatness 
of the State, who fill a large space in their 
country's history; soldiers of high achieve- 
ment in the earlier and later wars of the 
Republic; cabinet ministers, trusted asso- 
ciates of the martyred Lincoln, who had 
developed matchless qualities and accom- 
plished masterly results in the nation's 
supreme crisis; but from the roll of illus- 
trious names the unanimous voice of Ohio 
called the youngest and latest of her his- 
toric dead, the scholar, the soldier, the 
national Representative, the United States 
Senator-elecL the President of the people, 
the upright citizen, and the designation is 
everywhere received with approval and 
acclaim. 

By the adion of the authorities of the 
State he loved so well and served so long, 
and now, by the aciion of the National 
Congress in which he was so long a con- 
spicuous figure, he keeps company to-day 



26 

with "the immortal circle" in the old Hall 
of Representatives, which he was wont to 
call the "Third House," where his strong 
features and majestic form, represented in 
marble, will attract the homage of the 
present and succeeding" generations, as in 
life his great character and commanding 
qualities earned the admiration of the citi- 
zens of his own State and the nation at 
large, while the lessons of his life and the 
teaching's of his broad mind will be cher- 
ished and remembered when marble and 
statues have crumbled to decay. 

General Garfield was born on the 19th 
day of November, 1831, in the village of 
Orange, in Northern Ohio, ami died at 
Elberon, in the State of New Jersey, on 
the 19th day of September, 1881. His 
boyhood and youth differed little from 
others of his own time. His parents were 
not opulent. IK- worked from an early 
age, like most boys of that period. He 



27 

was neither ashamed nor afraid of manual 
labor, and engaged in it resolutely for the 
means to maintain and educate himself. 
He entered Williams College, in the State 
of Massachusetts, in 1854, and graduated 
with honor two years later, when he as- 
sumed charge of Hiram College, in his 
own State. 

In 1859 ne was elected to the Senate of 
Ohio, being its youngest member. Strong- 
men were his associates in that body, and 
have since held high stations in the public 
service. Some of them were his col- 
leagues here. In this, his first political 
office, he displayed a high order of ability, 
and developed some of the great qualities 
which afterward distinguished his illus- 
trious career. 

In August, 1 86 1, he entered the Union 
Army, and in September following was 
commissioned colonel of the Forty-second 
Ohio Infantry Volunteers. He was pro- 



28 

moted successively brigadier and major 
general of the United States Volunteers, 
and while yet in the Army was elected to 
Congress, remaining in the field more 
than a year after his election, and resign- 
ing only in time to take his seat in the 
House December 7, 1863. His military 
service secured him his first national 
prominence. He showed himself compe- 
tent to command in the field, although 
without previous training. He could plan 
battles and fight them successfully. As 
an officer he was exceptionally popular, 
beloved by his men, man)- of whom were 
his former students, respected and hon- 
ored by his superiors in rank, and his 
martial qualities and gallant behavior were 
more than once commended in general 
orders and rewarded by the Government 
with well-merited promotion. 

He was brave and sagacious. He filled 
every post with intelligence and fidelity, 



29 

and directed the movement of troops with 
judgment and skill. Distinguished as was 
his military career, which in itself would 
have given him a proud place in history, 
his most enduring fame, his highest re- 
nown, was earned in this House as a rep- 
resentative of the people. Here his mar- 
velous qualities were brought into full ac- 
tivity, here he grew with gradual but ever- 
increasing strength, here he won his richest 
laurels, here was the scene and center of 
his greatest glory. Here he was leader 
and master, not by combination or schem- 
ing, not by chicane or caucus, but by the 
force of his cultivated mind, his keen and 
far-seeing judgment, his unanswerable 
logic, his strength and power of speech, 
his thorough comprehension of the sub- 
jects of legislation. Always strong, he 
was strongest on his feet, addressing the 
House, or, from the rostrum, the assem- 
bled people. Who of us having heard 



3Q 

him here or elsewhere, speaking upon a 
question of great national concern, can 
forget the might and majesty, the force 

and directness, the grace and beaut)- of 
his utterances. He was always just to his 
adversary, an open and manly opponent, 
and free from invedtive. He convinced 
the judgment with his searching logic, 
while he swayed his listeners with brilliant 
periods and glowing eloquence. He was 
always an educator of the people. I lis 
thoughts were fresh, vigorous, and in- 
structive. 

In running over his public service here, 
covering a period of nearly eighteen years, 
crowding page after page of the Congres- 
sional Record, I have sought to settle in 
my own mind the question or questions in 
which he was greatest, and with which his 
name will be best remembered. I confess 
it is in) easy task. He was not a specialist 
in statesmanship. The subjects which he 



3i 

debated covered all the leading issues of 
the parties and the political policies of his 
time. He limited himself to no one topic 
and was confined to no single range of 
national legislation. His thoroughness 
upon every question he touched was 
marked and habitual. The Congressional 
debates show him prominent in discussion 
of the military affairs of the Government 
in time of war, when mighty armies were 
to be mustered and the means provided 
for their maintenance; the emancipation 
of the slave, and the problem of his future; 
reconstruction of the seceding States; the 
amendments to the Constitution giving 
suffrage to the newly enfranchised race; 
the tariff; refunding of the national debt; 
general education ; the resumption of 
specie payment; silver coinage; the civil 
service; the independence of the several 
branches of the Federal Government. 
He brought to this wide range of sub- 



32 

jecfts vast learning and comprehensive 
judgment. He enlightened and strength- 
ened every cause he advocated. Great in 
dealing with them all, dull and common- 
place in none, but to me he was the 
strongest, broadest, and bravest when he 
spoke for honest money, the fulfillment 
of the nation's promises, the resumption 
of specie payments, and the maintenance 
of the public faith. He contributed his 
share, in full measure, to secure national 
honesty and preserve inviolate our na- 
tional honor. None did more, few, if any. 
so much, to bring the Government back to 
a sound, stable, and constitutional money. 
He was a very giant in those memorable 
struggles, and it required upon his part 
the exercise of the highest courage. A 
considerable element of his party was 
against him, notably in his own State and 
some parts of his Congressional district. 
The mad passion of inflation and irre- 



33 

deemable currency was sweeping through 
the West, with the greatest fury in his 
own State. He was assailed for his con- 
victions, and was threatened with defeat. 
He was the special target for the hate and 
prejudice of those who stood against the 
honest fulfillment of national obligations. 
In a letter to a friend on New Year's eve, 
1867-68, he wrote : 

I have just returned from a tedious trip to Ashtabula, where I made a 
two-hour speech upon finance, and when I came home, came through a 
storm of paper-money denunciation in Cleveland, only to find on my 
arrival here a sixteen-page letter, full of alarm and prophecy of my 
political ruin for my opinions on the currency. 

To the same friend he wrote in 1878: 

On the whole it is probable I will stand again for the House. I am 
not sure, however, but the nineteenth district will go back upon me 
upon the silver question. If they do, I shall count it an honorable dis 
charge. 

These and more of the same tenor, 
which I might produce from his corre- 
spondence, show the extreme peril attend- 
ing his position upon the currency and 
silver questions, but he never flinched, he 
S. Mis. 104 — 3 



34 

never wavered; he faced all the dangers, 
assumed all the risks, voting and speaking 
for what he believed would secure the 
highest good. He stood at the forefront, 
with the waxes of an adverse popular sen- 
timent beating against him, threatening 
his political ruin, fearlessly contending for 
sound principles of finance against public 
clamor and a time-serving policy. To me 
his greatest effort was made on this floor 
in the Forty-fifth Congress, from his old 
seat yonder near the center aisle. He was 
at his best. He rose to the highest re- 
quirements of the subject and the occa- 
sion. His mind and soul were absorbed 
with his topic. He felt the full responsi- 
bility of his position and the necessit) 
of averting a policy (the abandonment 
of specie resumption) wlfich he believed 
would be disastrous to the highest inter- 
ests of the country. Unfriendly criticism 
seemed only to give him breadth of eon- 



35 

templation and boldness and force of ut- 
terance. 

Those of us who were so fortunate as 
to hear him can not efface the recollec- 
tion of his matchless effort. Both sides of 
this Chamber were eager listeners, and 
crowded galleries bent to catch every 
word, and all were sensibly moved by his 
forceful logic and impassioned eloquence. 
He at once stepped to the front without 
rival or contestant, secure in the place he 
had fairly earned. The press and the 
people received the address with warm 
approval, and his rank before the country 
was fixed as a strong, faithful, and fearless 
leader. No one thing he had ever done 
contributed so much to his subsequent ele- 
vation; no act of his life required higher 
courage; none displayed greater power; 
none realized to him larger honors; none 
brought him higher praise. 

Something of his real character and 



36 

high aims as a legislator and public serv- 
ant is disclosed in his private correspond- 
ence, from which I quote a single sen- 
tence: 

You know thai I have always said that my whole public life wa an 
experiment to determine whether an intelligent people would sustain a 
man in acting sensibly on each proposition that arose, and in doing 
nothing for mere show or demagogical effect. I do not now remember 

that 1 ever cast a vote of that latter sort. 

His experiment, although a perilous one 
and fraught with extreme danger, was yet 
successful, and that it was so is a high 
tribute not to him alone but to the justice 
and intelligence of the old Western Re- 
serve district and the whole American 
people. lie was sustained, triumphantly 
sustained, over and over again by his im- 
mediate constituency. His State sus- 
tained him and at last a nation of fifty 
millions of people rewarded his courage 
and consistency with the highest honors 
it could bestow. 

Although elected, Genera! Garfield 



37 

never took his seat in the Senate of the 
United States. His legislative career 
ended here, where it had practically begun 
eighteen years before. His nomination 
for the Presidency occurred soon after the 
Legislature of Ohio had chosen him Sena- 
tor, and came to him, as did all of his 
honors, because deserved. Although un- 
sought, no mere chance brought him this 
rare distinction. His solid reputation ren- 
dered it not improbable at any time. He 
had the qualities which attached his great 
party to him and the equipment which 
filled the fullest measure of public and 
party requirement. From the stirring- 
scenes at Chicago to the succeeding elec- 
tion he bore himself like a statesman and 
patriot fit for the highest trust. He ad- 
vanced in public confidence, and whenever 
he met with or addressed the people he 
enlarged the circle of his admiring fol- 
lowers and friends. His brief term in 



38 

the Presidency, so tragically ended, gave 
promise of large usefulness to the country 
in the realization of the true American 
policy at home and abroad. His death 
filled the nation with profound and uni- 
versal sorrow, and all lands and all peo- 
ples sympathized in our overshadowing 
bereavement. 

In General Garfield, as in Lincoln and 
Grant, we find the best representation of 
the possibilities of American life. Boy 
and man, he typifies American youth and 
manhood, and illustrates the beneficence 
and glory of our free institutions. His 
early struggles for an education, his self- 
support, his "lack of means," his youthful 
yearnings, find a prototype in every vil- 
lage, city, and hamlet of the land. They 
did not retard his progress, but spurred 
him on to higher and nobler endeavor. 
llis push and perseverance, his direct and 
undeviating life purpose, his sturdy intey- 



39 

rity, his Christian character, were rewarded 
with large results and exceptional honors ; 
honors not attainable anywhere else, and 
only to be acquired under the generous 
and helpful influences of a free govern- 
ment. 

He was twenty-three years of age when 
he confronted the more practical duties 
and the wider problems of life. All before 
had been training and preparation, the 
best of both, and his marvelous career 
ended before he was fifty. Few have 
crowded such great results and acquired 
such lasting fame in so short a life. Few 
have done so much for country and for 
civilization as he whom we honor to-day, 
stricken down as he was when scarce at 
the meridian of his powers. He did not 
flash forth as a meteor; he rose with meas- 
ured and stately step over rough paths 
and through years of rugged work. He 
earned his passage to every preferment. 



40 

He was tried and tested at every step in 
his pathway of progress. He produced 
his passport at every gateway to oppor- 
tunity and glory. 

His broad and benevolent nature made 
him the friend of all mankind. He loved 
the young men of the country and drew 
them to him by the thoughtful concern 
with which he regarded them. He was 
generous in his helpfulness to all, and to 
his encouragement and words of cheer 
many are indebted for much of their suc- 
cess in life. In personal character he 
was elean and without reproach. As a 
citizen, he loved his country and her insti- 
tutions, and was proud of her progress 
and prosperity. As a scholar and a man 
of letters, he took high rank. As an ora- 
tor, he was exceptionally strong and gifted. 
As a soldier, he stood abreast with the 
bravest and best of the citizen soldiery of 
the Republic. As a legislator, his most 



4i 

enduring testimonial will be found in the 
records of Congress and the statutes of 
his country. As President, he displayed 
moderation and wisdom, with executive 
ability, which gave the highest assurances 
of a most honored and successful adminis- 
tration. 

On the 19th day of December, 1876, 
the State of Massachusetts presented the 
statues of John Winthrop and Samuel 
Adams as her offerings to Memorial Hall. 
On that interesting occasion General Gar- 
field said: 

As from time to time our venerable and beautiful hall has been peo- 
pled with the statues of the elect of the States, it has seemed to me that 
a third House was being organized within the walls of the Capitol, a 
House whose members have received their high credentials at the hands 
of history and whose term of office will outlast the ages. Year by year 
we see the elect of their country in eloquent silence taking their places 
in the American Pantheon, bringing within its sacred circle the wealth 
of those immortal memories which made their lives illustrious. And 
year by year that august assembly is teaching a deeper and grander 
lesson to all who serve their brief hour in these more ephemeral Houses 
of Congress. And now two places of great honor have just been most 
nobly filled. 

Mr. Speaker, another place of great honor 



42 

u e fill to-day. Nobly and worthily is it 
rilled. Garfield, whose eloquent words 
1 have just pronounced, has joined Win- 
throp and Adams and the other illustrious 
ones, as one of "the eleet of the States," 
peopling yonder venerable and beautiful 
hall. He receives his high credentials 
from the hands of the State which has 
withheld from him none of her honors, 
and history will ratify the choice. We 
add another to the immortal membership. 
\ nuthcr enters "the sacred circle." In 
silent eloquence from the "American Pan- 
theon" another speaks, whose lite-work. 
with its treasures of wisdom, its wealth of 
achievement, its great work wrought, and 
its priceless memories, will remain to ns 
and our descendants a legacy, forever and 
forever. 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. 1 now yield to 
my colleague, fudge Geddes. 



43 

Mr. Geddes. Mr. Speaker, it was in 
1864 that Congress invited each State of 
the Union to ereel; statues in the Old 
Hall of the House of Representatives 
of two of its most eminent citizens. 
In pursuance of this, many of the 
States have accepted the privilege, and 
now, by the action of the General As- 
sembly of Ohio, a marble statue of 
James A. Garfield has been presented 
to Congress as the first contribution 
by that State. This selection will, I am 
certain, meet with universal, heartfelt ap- 
proval. 

In the few moments allowed me in ac- 
cepting this token of the. sentiment of my 
State it is not my purpose to give a bio- 
graphical sketch or even to outline the 
life-work of him whose memory so richly 
deserves this recognition. 

As a work of art I find it highly com- 
mended, and most forcibly by that close 



44 

observer and well-known writer, "Gath," 
as follows : 

I had not seen the new statue of GARFIELD, sent by the State of Ohio 
to tin- Hall of Representatives, until to-day. I thought it was one of the 
bi i tatues that has been presented to the Capitol. I could realize the 
man with whom I have often walked and talked in life as well as white 
marble can embody man. There are no accessories of this statue which 
take the eye away from the head and face and expression. lie has 
I I lefl hand a little bracket, cm which is the paper of his notes or 
manuscript, and, holding this, he speaks, and .ill who want to see him a^ 
he lived in life, hearty and high and broad, can look at him then 
was until the assassin, with the spitefulness of a backbiter, fired into the 
citadel of his life. 

Although we often met, my political 
views contributed in part to deprive me of 
the privilege and honor of a more intimate 
personal acquaintance with him, but could 
not and did not prevent an appreciation of 
his virtues and' admiration of his typical 
American character. 

M\ first substantial knowledge of him 
was when he was engaged in raising vol- 
unteers for the regiment which he subse- 
quently commanded as colonel. Manx ot 
the men were raised from the families and 



45 

firesides of those with whom I was well 
acquainted. 

On an occasion of a reunion of that 
regiment held at Ashland, Ohio, in 1880, 
we met. He was before the people at that 
time as the Republican candidate for the 
Presidency, and I was invited to speak 
from the same stand, although I was then 
the Democratic candidate for Congress. 
The occasion was intended to be non- 
partisan. An incident occurred at that 
time that might lead a superstitious per- 
son to regard as a premonition of the sad 
and tragic death he subsequently suffered. 
During the time he was speaking the plat- 
form on which he stood fell several feet to 
the ground, but, unmoved by the accident, 
he continued his address to the multitude 
assembled to hear him. 

I now distinctly recall the heartfelt ear- 
nestness with which I congratulated the 
people on the honor conferred upon us all 



4 6 

by the presence of our illustrious citizen 
who had addressed them, and then con- 
gratulated him on the honor paid him by 
the presence of so many thousands of our 
people. 

Early in my Congressional experience I 
was deeply impressed with the wonderful 
intellectual storehouse he had at his com- 
mand for ever)' emergency. Let me give 
you an illustration : 

On the 13th of January, 1815, Congress 
bought 6,700 volumes of Thomas Jeffer- 
son's library, a well-preserved collection of 
books, constituting the basis of the present 
Government Library, ami will be found to 
be among the richest intellectual treasures 
of the world. This collection of books, so 
indispensable to every American states- 
man, 1 found was familiar to him. 

1 had the honor to present to this 
House from the Library Committee a 
proposition in the interest of our national 



47 

Library, which I urged in a tew words in 
my humble way, and, meeting with oppo- 
sition that alarmed me, our lamented late 
President unexpectedly came to my rescue 
in words so pertinent, as matter of argu- 
ment and so precious as his personal sen- 
timents, that I now quote them from the 
Congressional Record of May 9, 1879. 
He said: 

We are here under circumstances where, without the slightest regard 
for party, we ought all to vie with each other in being proud of that great 
library and doing anything in the world that is reasonable lo maintain it 
and render it more effective. 

Let us remember that the foundation of that Library was laii I in the small 
library of Thomas Jefferson, and the spirit of scholarhip and thoroughness 
that he showed in the care of his own books, which are still preserved in 
the Library as a monument of his learning and wisdom, seems to have been 
secured in the management of the Congressional Library itself. Perhaps 
gentlemen may not know that every one of the large body of books obtained 
from Thomas Jefferson, to form the foundation of this Library, has his own 
mark at some distinct page away over in the book indicating his ownership. 

I recollect to have seen a little thing which is worthy of mention here. 
In one of these books, when it came here, there happened to be left a 
little piece of paper not more than five inches square, in Mr. Jefferson's 
handwriting. He had kept during the eight years of his presidency this 
curious memorandum. He had drawn it off in the form of a table, with 
the year at the head, a column for each year, and the date of appear- 
ance of vegetables in the Washington market — in 1801, on such a date, 
asparagus, and so on through, showing that in the midst of great affairs, 
when President of the United States, he took care of little things. These 
little observations marked him as a philosopher. 



4 8 

Mr. Speaker, this gift from the State of 
Ohio is to be deposited in the old Cham- 
ber occupied by the members of the lower 
House of Congress prior to the 16th of 
December, 1857, Dut now dedicated as a 
depository of the statues of American citi- 
zens most distinguished in civil or mili- 
tary life. 

I low appropriate the place. As the 
citizens from all portions of our beloved 
country enter this Capitol building" they 
find it in keeping with the genius and 
spirit of our form of government. They 
find its chief beauty and most imposing- 
qualities consisting in its exhibition of 
strength, plainness, and durability. It at 
once demands and receives the closest 
attention and earnest admiration of every 
lover of our Republican simplicity. 

As \ 011 pass from either branch of Con- 
gress to the other this room is on the line, 
and in passing through it you never fail 



49 

to observe the large number of visitors 
charmed by the scene. Not only the 
statues that attract, charm, and force the 
admiration of all who pause and think, 
but the memories that cluster around 
every object and bring fresh to mind the 
memorable scenes in the history of that 
hall all unite to constrain you to feel that 
you are in the presence of objects ren- 
dered sacred by their history. These ob- 
jects — statues of our great and good men 
from the colonial period down to the pres- 
ent — will, I trust, unite to prove that — 

No sound is breathed so potent to coerce 
And to conciliate as their names who dare 
For that sweet mother-land which gave them birth 
Nobly to do, nobly to die. Their names, 
Graven on memorial columns, are a song 
Heard in the future; few, but more than wall 
And rampart, their examples reach a hand 
Far thro' all years, and everywhere they meet 
And kindle generous purpose, and the strength 
To mold it into action pure as theirs. 

But these statues are not to all the most 
impressive and inspiriting associations to 
S. Mis. 104 4 



5o 

be found in this old hall. The heart 
and mind are soon filled with thoughts of 
the glowing, thrilling eloquence, undying 
patriotism, and stern, immovable integrity 
that characterized the lives of many con- 
nected with that old hall whose statues 
are not here. They too have enduring 
monuments. Their life-work forms the 
grandest, most magnificent, and enduring 
of all monuments. Such lives speak in 
trumpet tones to all nations, for all na- 
tions, and for all time to come. "Though 
dead they yet speak." 

And is he dead whose glorious mind 

Lifts thine on high ? 
To live in hearts we leave behind 

Is not to die. 

Although the gift and reception of this 
statue of our noble dead, the lamented 
late: President, is the performance of a 
holy work of love, a patriotic and sacred 
duty, yet we should be led to look beyond 
the work of art and take fresh inspiration 



5i 

from the heroic deeds performed in civil 
or military life. 

The highest, noblest, and best quality 
in a nation is gratitude, without which it 
would soon fall an easy prey to either 
violence or corruption. Our nation has 
always manifested in the most conspicu- 
ous ways its unstinted gratitude to the 
men who founded the Government, who 
conceived and formulated the great prin- 
ciples upon which our institutions rest, or 
who have done most in civil or military 
life to maintain and preserve them. 

No nation can forget or negled its 
benefactors and illustrious public servants 
and be itself worthy of admiration. It 
must itself liberally shower just rewards 
on all who serve with fidelity its truest 
and highest interests in war or peace. 

In accepting and enjoying the priceless 
and glorious results which the distin- 
guished dead of our country achieved on 



52 

land and sea, we must accord to their 
memories the most hearty and generous 
recognition. 

One favorite form of expression of the 
patriotic gratitude of this generation is to 
erect monuments. Constitutional liberty, 
vindicated by the pen or sword on the 
judicial bench or battlefield, or in the halls 
of legislation, we find honored in monu- 
ments and statuary in all parts of the 
nation's capital. 

These exhibitions of our appreciation of 
the heroic virtues, glorious deeds, incor- 
ruptible purity, exalted patriotism, and 
self-sacrificing devotion to duty will se- 
cure to the present and coming genera- 
tions the same qualities to guide, mold, 
and govern the destiny of this mighty 
Republic. 

Herein lies our greatest security against 
every form of danger. The ancient Ro- 
man gloried in the securilv afforded him 



53 

by the declaration: "I am a Roman citi- 
zen." It secured him personal safety 
throughout the known world. But it was 
an insecure privilege. Fear of physical 
power — mere brutal force — was his only 
guarantee of safety. 

Not so with an American. To be able 
to say "I am an American citizen" com- 
mands the respect and love of all classes 
throughout the civilized world. It is 
therefore a great privilege to belong to a 
country that can present to the world so 
many striking and illustrious examples of 
the ennobling and elevating power of free 
institutions. 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. I now yield to 
my colleague, Mr. Butterworth. 

Mr. Butterworth. Ohio has placed in 
this Capitol a statue of James A. Gar- 
field. It is a gift by the people of that 



54 

State to the nation. A resolution accept- 
ing the gift has passed the Senate and 
now waits the action of this House. Be- 
fore the final vote is taken I desire to 
speak for a few moments of the dead after 
whose living" likeness the marble statue is 
fashioned. 

It seems but yesterday that Garfield 
stood in our midst, a leader of his party 
and a teacher of the people. He was 
a leader on this floor — -not by virtue of 
those qualities that made Clay and Ste- 
vens great and successful parliamentary 
leaders. They sought the right as Gar- 
field did, but their imperious wills 
brooked no opposition and tolerated no 
hesitation in the ranks of the column at 
the head of which they marched. They 
led, if might be, and forced, if necessary, 
the column forward as the exigency of the 
hour demanded or seemed to them to de- 



55 

In this Garfield differed from those 
two great leaders. In forensic eloquence 
he was the equal of Clay and superior to 
Stevens. He was more than the peer of 
either in ripe scholarship, was a more pro- 
found thinker, and had a wider range of 
experience in the midst of those great 
events which test the metal of statesmen 
and soldiers and try the strength of gov- 
ernmental institutions and shape the 
course and fix the destiny of nations. 

Few men were better equipped in mat- 
ter of mental furnishings for parliamentary 
debate and party leadership. He always 
led the column, he never forced it forward. 
No one questioned the accuracy of his 
learning or doubted the integrity of his 
purpose. 

His strength as a leader was due to his 
unswerving love of right, and his un- 
matched ability in satisfying candid minds 
that he sought with singleness of purpose 



56 

ways which wisdom commended and truth 
and justice approved. In the great con- 
flict of principles mere expedients to dodge 
or delay an issue found no favor with him. 

Truth is eternal, and her time is now. 
He recognized that in all life's labors 
duty is ours, results are God's. He de- 
spised demagogy, and had little patience 
with those who seek exaltation by that 
ladder of corrupt ambition. He loved his 
fellow-men. He never learned to hate 
even the meanest of mankind. 

The one weakness in his leadership was 
that howsoever he condemned the act, his 
great unguarded kindness, unasked, for- 
gave the actor. His head won vantage 
ground, his heart not unfrequently sur- 
rendered. 

In his judgments of men mercy so tem- 
pered justice as often to destroy that need- 
ful quality. This controlling love of his 
fellow-men would tend to make him bet- 



57 

ter fit in times of public peril to write the 
law than to be the agent of its execution. 
He would have hailed with delight a dis- 
pensation that would from punishment 
have divorced all pain and left to just 
judgment no quality but mercy. 

Of the great attributes of his kindly 
heart, nothing manifested itself more 
grandly than the tender and constant love 
he bore his mother. 

I saw and heard him first more than 
twenty years ago. In the speech he made 
all hearts were moved by the splendid 
tribute that he paid to her. 

When unsought the people of his State 
chose him for United States Senator, his 
friends in this city were pleased to tender 
him a serenade. On that occasion one 
of the speakers pronounced some words 
of well-deserved praise of Garfield's 
mother. A moment afterward Garfield 
approached the speaker and, unobserved 



58 

of others, placed his arm about his neck, 
and with voice choked by emotion, and 
eyes wet with tears, he said: "God bless 
you for the good things you said about 
my mother." 

On his inauguration, when the oath that 
made him Chief Magistrate of this great 
nation had been taken, he turned amidst 
that vast waiting multitude and bending 
down to her he kissed his aged mother. 
Malicious envy called this acting. How 
little such "critics" knew the heart of that 
great man. 

By that acl of reverent filial piety he 
touched the hearts of this nation. They 
knew what great emotions wrought him in 
that hour and in that presence to bear 
witness to what a mother's love and care 
had done, could do, for a home and for a 
people. 

He was credulous and confiding as a 
child, and gave his confidence almost 



59 

without reserve, and seemed to deem 
a betrayal of that confidence impossi- 
ble. 

Lincoln and Garfield were essentially 
of the people, in the widest and best 
sense. Both were born in low estate. 
Both were freedom's apostles and hu- 
manity's friends. 

Inscrutible Providence that so ordained 
that these two, of all men most near the 
people, most actively in sympathy with 
them, at once their friend and champion, 
should in all the line of rulers have been 
singled out by the assassins as victims of 
their bloody work, and be by these minis- 
ters of crime cut down in the very flower 
of their usefulness! 

While the life and character of Gar- 
field may challenge closest scrutiny, it is 
not urged that he was free from human 
faults and frailties. He stood conspicu- 
ously prominent among his fellow-men, 



6o 

while his adversaries were hidden by their 
own obscurity. 

The moon being clouded presently is missed, 
But little stars can hide them when they list ; 
Gnats are not noted wheresoe'er they fly, 
But eagles gazed upon by every eye. 

So his whole course of life was noted. 

To find a fault in him was justly to 
accuse the party led by him. To baffle 
him was to halt the column at the head of 
which he marched. To hide his promi- 
nence was impossible. To curb or de- 
stroy his influence was the aim of those 
who felt and feared his power. His coun- 
trymen had learned to lo\*e his precepts 
and to walk in the light of his example. 

The record of his life was to his fellow- 
countrymen at once a benediction and an 
inspiration. While they loved and hon- 
ored him, they were in the last degree ex- 
acting. With unwonted eagerness the) 
searched his life to find, if such there was, 
a single stain or touch of taint, and were 



6i 

the while indifferent to gross lapses on the 
part of those who had attained to emi- 
nence, good or bad, by means that would 
have hurled Garfield from the pedestal of 
popular favor into well-deserved contempt. 
But it is always so. 

The greatest scandal waits on greatest state. 

The crow may bathe her coal-black -wing in mire, 

And unperceived fly with the filth away; 
But should the like the snow-white swan desire, 

The stain upon his silver down would stay. 

Garfield could not be pushed into nor 
find obscurity, nor his life-service in the 
interest of his countrymen be forgotten. 

His nomination for the Presidency was 
not the accident of the distempered time 
nor the result of mere manipulation of 
rival factions. There is abundant witness, 
that in the wildest tumult of that stormy 
contest the master's voice was heard, and, 
yielding to its stern command, the con- 
vention recognized and confirmed the 
people's choice. 



62 

His election was assured unless his ad- 
versaries could devise some means to 
wrest from him the people's confidence 
and love, the prop and stay by which he 
was upheld and which the struggling 
millions of our land gave willingly. Un- 
worthy as was the end thus sought, the 
means were worse — forgery, the fruit and 
coinage of one base mind. 

To taint Garfield's claim to popular 
support, the "Morey letter" was contrived. 

The destruction of a hecatomb of men 
the nation might and would survive, and 
possibly forgive, but willfully to misdirect 
and trample down the people's will and 
by chicane defeat them in their choice has 
no fellow in the annals of dangerous ex- 
ample, and can only well up from a de- 
pravity that is indifferent alike to every 
sense of patriotic duty. 

Against the assault that comes in open 
day and seeks by means heroic, however 



63 

wicked, prudent foresight may provide. 
But what human agency can protect this 
nation against the all-destroying poison 
injected into the healthful current of pub- 
lic thought and private judgment by some 
living, breathing source of foul contagion 
which infedls the very life-blood of our 
governmental system. 

The desperate purpose of a desperate 
man was too soon conceived, and, though 
well planned, miscarried in its execution. 
And though to the humble homes through- 
out the land, on wings of lightning that 
corrupting agent flew, yet, thank Heaven, 
in that wild race of right with wrong God's 
truth o'ertook the speeding falsehood and 
bore it to the earth, and at once restored 
to Garfield's fame the shield and armor 
of his spotless life. 

The offerings from the people of well- 
earned confidence were but for a moment 
interrupted. The heart that beat for all 



6 4 

his race had not been false to the burden- 
bearers from whose ranks he came. The 
arm that had struck and only struck for 
their disenthrallment had not been raised 
against them. The voice that had spoken, 
the pen that had written for their en- 
nobling had not been suborned to base 
betrayal of a single trust. 

Loved by his countrymen as only Lin- 
coln was; trusted by his countrymen as 
only Lincoln was, by means only less in- 
famous and by a man only less depraved 
than he who struck down Lincoln, Gar- 
field fell; but he is not lost to this people. 

Garfield is in his shroud and tomb, 
but in this nation he is mighty yet. His 
utterances and his example will outlast 
the earthly monuments fashioned to make 
his name immortal. His grave will be 
the patriot's shrine; his life and character 
be an inspiration to the lovers of freedom 
throughout the world. The fathers of this 



65 

land will seek his footsteps and our chil- 
dren learn of him. He has taught our 
youth to rise to exalted station by wise 
and virtuous action. He has taught them 
that the highway to eminence and worthy 
renown leads not alone from palaces, nor 
yet along the paths of luxury, but that it 
finds its way alike from the abode of pov- 
erty and the home of wealth. 

It will go ill with this Republic when 
such lives are forgotten and the influence 
of such examples are unheeded. [Ap- 
plause.] 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. I now move that 
the House concur in the Senate resolu- 
tions. 

Mr. Symes. Before the question is put 
I ask unanimous consent of the House 
that the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. 
Pettibone] be allowed to address it on 

S. Mis. 104 — 5 



66 

these resolutions. To my knowledge Mr. 
'Pettibone was a pupil of the distinguished 
statesman whose memory we arc now 
honoring when he taught school in the 
State of Ohio and has always been one of 
his great admirers. I know the House 
will be glad to listen to his remarks. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from 
Colorado asks unanimous consent that the 
gentleman from Tennessee be allowed to 
address the House on the pending resolu- 
tions. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. Pettibone. In addition to what 
has been said by the eloquent sons of 
Ohio in admiration and commendation of 
the character of our late President, whose 
marble image is to-day received by the 
House of Representatives, I shall have 
but little to present. And, Mr. Speaker. 1 



6 7 

only desire to say that why I speak at all 
is because it so happens that one of the 
earliest teachers with whom I had the 
privilege of studying the classics and pre- 
paring for college was the late President 
Garfield. I knew in early life his com- 
plete and utter devotion as a teacher. He 
taught not merely at Hiram, but he taught 
always in the whole course of his life; not 
only in Ohio, but in this forum; and all 
who heard him knew that he was a model 
teacher. 

He loved to teach. His wide-minded 
character and his yearning for his fellow- 
men expanded itself in every variety of way. 

If, Mr. Speaker, there was any one trait 
in the character of General Garfield 
more predominant than another it was his 
great kindliness, his universal charity, his 
love for humanity. I recollect receiving 
long ago, some twenty-six years ago, a 
letter from him in which he used this ex- 



68 

pression: Being invited to come and par- 
take on one occasion the hospitalities of 
a literary society, he said: "I know the 
portals of your heart will fly open at a 
friend's approach like the gates of Peter's 
prison at the angel's touch." 

This sentiment in Garfield's heart 
touched all his students at Hiram, and 
among the hundreds who have gone out 
from that institution not one will forget it; 
and by the hundreds of splendid women, 
then young maidens and then in the first 
blush of their gloriou> womanhood, who 
received his instructions and who are to- 
day wearing the golden crown of mater- 
nity — by them will be handed down to 
their children, and by them to generations 
yet unborn, reminiscences of the kindli- 
ness, the sweet yet stern truthfulness, and 
the magnanimity of this man who was so 
great among the children of Ohio thirty 
years ago! 



6g 

Never will we who used to near him 
forget that element in his character which 
so closely akinned him with the spiritually 
minded, and led him to admire the brilliant 
and beautiful touches in "In Memoriam" 
when he used to quote the lines so fre- 
quently repeated by him. 

When Lazarus left his charnel cave, 

And home to Mary's house return'd, 

Was this demanded — if he yeam'd 
To hear her weeping by his grave ? 

"Where wert thou, brother, those four days?" 

There lives no record of reply, 

Which telling what it is to die 
Had surely added praise to praise. 

From every house the neighbors met, 

The streets were filled with joyful sound; 
A solemn gladness even crown'd 

The purple brows of Olivet. 

Behold ! a man raised up by Christ ! 

The rest remaineth unreveal'd ; 

He told it not; or something seal'd 
The lips of that Evangelist. 

But, Mr. Speaker, the hour draws on, 
and this fitting ceremony must close. 
This statue of purest Parian marble will 
yet crumble into dust, but the memory of 



70 

the martyr President will live; and I 
could not speak if I desired a more just 
eulogium than he used to quote with ad- 
miration from Tacitus, a classic which 
once it was his fortune to teach to us at 
Hiram, and a truer, and better, and more 
characteristic statement of the real char- 
acter of the man than that which was 
made by Tacitus, speaking of the merit 
of Agricola, a passage I know President 
Garfield used to admire, does not exist. 
Said Tacitus in the old language of 
Rome: 

Quidquid ex eo amavimus, quidquid mirati sumus, manet, niansurum- 
que est in etemitate temporum, fama rerum. 

Whatsoever of him we have loved, 
whatsoever of him we have admired, re- 
mains, and will remain in the eternity of 
time, and in the fame of great events. 
[Applause.] 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor. I now repeat 



7i 

my motion that the Mouse concur in the 
Senate resolutions. 

The resolutions were concurred in. 

Mr. Ezra B. Taylor moved to recon- 
sider the vote by which the resolutions 
were concurred in; and also moved that 
the motion to reconsider be laid on the 
table. 

The latter motion was agreed to. 
O 



